From our Youth Group Advisors – May 2018
Looking Back on the SPeTY Year
Rachel Fischer, SPeTY Advisor
What a year it has been for SPeTY! We have bonded at the beach, enjoyed movie night(s), played laser tag, escaped a locked room, and played a round or two of miniature golf. We organized the collection for the High Holiday Food Drive, helped with the New Member Dinner and Hanukkah Latke Party, and put on an amazing Purim Carnival. We have attended NFTY kallot, spoken from the bimah, Marched for Our Lives, and participated in an interfaith concert. The teens gave input into the search for an interim rabbi and Director of Education.
The leadership of SPeTY has grown as the year has gone by. Sophia Perry, Jackie Blatt, and Sabrina Cohn, our three high school seniors, began the year as co-leaders. Each has participated in NFTY weekend kallot and various leadership activities, such as running an event or representing the teens at a Board of Directors or Youth Committee meeting. They have grown both individually and as a group. They have made me laugh, made me proud, and made me very glad to have taken on the challenge of building our youth program.
Who will be our teen leaders next year? What direction will the group take? The focus will continue to be on teens planning their own events. But there are so many possibilities. Where do we go from here with social action? What new activities might be fun to try? Who will become active in NFTY?
What we know for certain is that next year, Cantor Ilan Davidson, Jaron Brunner, and I will continue to build our youth programs with great heart and spirit. And we will continue having fun with Yaldei Shalom and SPeTY.